Review: Frontline’s ‘Sick Around America’

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It’s difficult to imagine anyone who would argue that the state of American healthcare is peachy keen; if you are ever lacking for conversational fodder at a cocktail party or in the security line at the airport, the words ‘so I get this bill from my insurance company . . .’ should do the trick.

Those fortunate enough to have gotten, and kept, an insurance situation that meets their needs are in a growing minority. In fact, to illustrate how it’s supposed to work, ‘Sick Around America,’ a Frontline documentary exploring the state of healthcare, had to go to Microsoft.

There, employee Mark Murray and his wife had a long-sought and subsequently troubled pregnancy. Their baby boy, who was born premature, is doing fine, but their medical bills totaled between $500,000 and $1 million, all of which Microsoft paid.

But as ‘Sick Around America’ makes clear, most American workers are not so lucky. They have experienced, at best, a familiar cycle of ever-shifting carriers as companies attempt to cut costs and, at worst, the loss of insurance altogether.

Read more Frontline’s ‘Sick Around America’

(Photo courtesy Frontline / PBS)